SuperClub Diaries (Vol.1) - Season 1 Failure #FM24

 
 

It’s the 5th of March 2024 and the 1st season of the SuperClub Diaries save is over. There’s obviously still two and a half months left of the Ligue 1 season, but the whole save hinges on the performance of the UEFA Champions League. Yet here we are out at the Last 16 knockouts stage against Manchester United or Englandshire. Pass the bucket, je suis malade. It is unsure at this stage if I will keep my job here at Paris Saint Germain. We are strolling to the title and will probably win it by 15-20 points, but I sit on a Board Approval rating of C+.

So this post is carefully positioned between being a potential farewell to PSG, and also a look ahead to a possible second season of retribution. Who knows what our Qatari owners will decide to do next…

Selling to Saudi

I disabled the 1st Transfer Window on save startup, so my first taste of Saudi transfer action came in January 2024. Three of the Public Investment Fund came in for Presnel Kimpembe, a good defender but my 3rd best (imo) behind Marquinhos and Milan Škriniar. A relatively easy choice was made even easier by taking into account Presnel’s real-life injury problems AND the straight up offer of €60m from Al-Hilal.

A sizeable chunk of that transfer deal was reinvested into Fluminense’s André, who I would look to rotate with Manual Ugarte at DM. However, André is technically proficient enough to also play further up the field in my 433 (either as CM-A or AP-S). I am happy with him, and still am, even if his first meaningful moment in a PSG shirt was so cataclysmic for us…

The League of Champions

This save is defined by my performance in Europe’s elite club competition. I’ll be honest, if I go out in the Last 16 ever again with this side…I’d have to do the right thing and walk. But the Last 16 tie versus Manchester United is quite laughable. It’s not a case of PSG not turning up, we absolutely smashed them. I could sit here and write about Super ‘Keepers all day long after seeing what André Onana did during these two games (20 shots faced, 4 held, 12 parried and 2 tipped)…

Match Home xG Home Away xG Away Result MOTM, Av.Rating
Leg 1 PSG (3.31) Man Utd (0.61) 1-0 André Onana, 8.8
Leg 2 Man Utd (1.13) PSG (3.12) 2-1 André Onana, 8.8

We won the xG battle [a metric that my ex-stream partner often recites as a validation of a team’s superiority], but somehow we were taken to a penalty shootout with the sides level at 2-2 AET. Oh, and how did Manchester United get back into it with a minute of extra-time to go? Well, a different kind of André happened…

Good job we practised penalties then right? No, we were dreadful at them..despite the scheduled training session the day before. Paris Saint Germain were out. At the Last 16 stage. Merde.

Faire un come-back

I had to take a couple of nights off from FM24, I was hurt. It’s not strictly the PSG André’s fault either. He is, after all, just a few numbers dancing around in old code. With this in mind, I thought about switching to a 442, but a fancy 442 with Liberos and Inverted Wing Backs. But I quickly went back to a tweaked 433 DM hackz (below) after the 442 lost 3-0 away in Marseille.

IWB-A left.

IWB-A right.

It’s now June 2024, I have finished the season, and the 433 has shown me that I need to carry on in Paris (and I hope the Board agrees too). A rainy night in Manchester was just a blip, honest. Paris Saint Germain finished 22 points clear in Ligue 1, scoring 99 goals in the process, and then there’s #WelcomeXaviSimons to come. Who will arrive back in Paris soon…and it was always my intention to build around one of the best young midfielders in the game for Season 2.

The Last 16 exit has left me scarred and deformed, but I can assure you my resolve has never been stronger.

To be really ambitious as a SuperClub though, and that’s the intention with this save, you need to go against sound logic and the status quo. I could go and get the likes of Roony Bardghji on a cut-price deal…but a SuperClub does more than that (and it’s reflected in the FM24 club vision of ‘Spend the original transfer budget’ which I really enjoyed seeing). I’m going to sign the best I can get, so please welcome Yeremy Pino for €80m. It’s a different style of playing FM, I’ll admit…but I really enjoyed making that signing and just that feeling of being unleashed. Crème de la crème and all that.

Now let’s look elsewhere in SuperClub Diaries to see if there’s been any more fucks up (other than my own)…

England

Manchester City rule supreme in England, winning their fourth straight Premier League title. They also came close to retaining the Champions League, beating city rivals Manchester United in the Semi Final before coming up short in a penalty shootout Vs fellow SuperClub Bayern Munich. Despite a 5th place finish for Manchester United, they won the FA Cup on penalties against rivals Liverpool who will not complain too much having won the Europa League three days before against RB Leipzig (with Dominik Szoboszlai returning to haunt his old club with the match winning goal). Meanwhile, Chelsea continue the trophy theme with a League Cup victory and finish 3rd in the league (behind Liverpool and Manchester City).

France

Kylian Mbappé took his total career club goals to 278, with a 35-goal-campaign in 2023/24 for PSG. His Parisian outfit disappointed in Europe with a Last 16 exit to Manchester United, but a successful third straight Ligue 1 title means the 25-year-old now has seven league titles to his name.

Germany

Harry Kane’s 25 goals were not enough for Bayern Munich to retain the Bundesliga, who finished 2nd to winners RB Leipzig. Bayern did win the DFB-Pokal cup with a thumping 5-1 win against rivals Dortmund, however the best was yet to come…as on 01-June-2024 Bayern beat Manchester City on penalties to win their 7th European Cup.

Italy

Italian SuperClubs Juventus and Inter Milan fail to secure qualification to next year’s Champions League, finishing 5th and 6th in Serie A respectively. AC Milan won the Copa Italia but only finished 3rd in the league, as last season’s winners, Napoli, lost out to shock Serie A winners Lazio.

Spain

Barcelona won the title with a 95 point haul, and Robert Lewandowski once again the elite marksman in Spain with 25 league goals. In 2nd place is Real Madrid who slipped up to an Antoine Griezmann inspired Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey final. Diego Simeone’s men also secure Champions League football next term with a 3rd place finish.

So, that’s Season 1 complete in SuperClub Diaries. I may have done just enough to crawl into a second season in the French capital, but the pressure is now on.

As always, thank you for reading/sharing and caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper

SuperClub Diaries (Vol.1) - Positional Play in Paris #FM24

Bonjour mes amis,

I think it is fair to say that many of us are enjoying FM24, especially with the introduction of Positional Play. Positional Play in FM offers greater tactical fluidity to our sides through role rotations, I wrote more about what that means for tactics in general during the FM24 early access with CF Monterrey…

 
Featured
Football Manager Tactics: 3241 magic in Monterrey #FM24EarlyAccess
Football Manager Tactics: 3241 magic in Monterrey #FM24EarlyAccess
 

But there is still more to say on Positional Play, so I thought I would use my SuperClub Diaries series to demonstrate how I plan to use a few more of the roles that trigger certain movements in the FM24 Match Engine. I will therefore share my three PSG starting formations, discuss my reasoning for using certain roles together and share a few screenshots on how it looks in the ME as I play through the pre-season. On y vas…

Tactic 1 - 433

There is a fair bit of rotation going on here. But I quite like that I can defend in a back four with a DM as cover but still have so many bodies going forward in a front four - something that PSG are constantly looking to do in real-life. Once with the ball, the IWB-S will move alongside the BWM-S in possession, forming a nice double pivot at the base of the midfield. The IFB-D behind will tuck inside and it will be a back three with Marquinhos as the ball player.

The CM-A moving into AMC position will keep the Winger wide, as part of the rotation, but this suits Ousmane Dembélé’s profile due to him being so good in 1v1s against opposing full back and crossing. Another subtle tweak in FM24 is the Winger role given the option to cut inside. Again, this suits Dembélé’s skillset…so he will be the modern day Winger: pushed out wide, until he uses his good Off the Ball and Dribbling to move into more dangerous areas. At times, the PSG attack will be a front four…allowing the AP-S plenty of passing options.

Intended use: This is the primary tactic, certainly the one I start big-ish domestic games and home Champions League ties. I really like the front three roles of IF-CF-W, which I used many years ago with INTER to great effect (remember Facundo Collidio?), but I feel like a revisit is necessary as a lot has changed in the ME since then.

 

433 PSG

 

433 in possession.

Attacks in: 3241 / 325

Defends in: 4141

Tactic 2 - 4231

The next rotation brings about a natural overload on the right hand side, with the attacking Wing Back linking up with a more central Ousmane Dembélé whose starting position would be more in the half-space area of the opposition’s half compared with Tactic 1. To accommodate this right sided attack, I am once again looking to tuck Hernandez into the back three using IFB-D on the left hand side. The 4231 also has a double pivot, and therefore more conservative…with a Deep Lying Playmaker holding position and with a defensively minded Ball Winning Midfielder to his right.

Intended use: The intended use of this tactic would be when I think the opposition will be a bit more aggressive against us…which could mean more space in behind for our Shadow Striker to advance into. Maybe something for the Champions League away nights? I’ve selected Pass Into Space and removed Work Ball Into Box, so that I can also make use of our explosive wide attackers in Kylian Mbappé & Ousmane Dembélé.

 

4231 PSG

 

4231 in possession.

Attacks in: 334

Defends in: 4231

Tactic 3 - 3421

The third, and final, tactic is one that sees both Wing Backs advance high up the pitch; stretching the play by staying wide. This tactic makes use of Nuno Mendes, who will be returning from injury a few months into the save. What I like in the 3421 is that I will have two central triangles: a base with the Libero linking up with the Central Midfielder & Box to Box midfielder and another in the attack, with Attacking Midfielder and Shadow Striker behind a Complete Forward. The key role is the Box to Box, who will move into the space vacated by the Shadow Striker and link both triangles together. I will most likely look like a 3241, with five in attack at times.

Intended use: I would most likely use the 3421 in domestic games where I want to suffocate defensive teams. It has the same Team Instructions as the 433, but it is overloading central areas with the two AMCs. This is probably the tactic I switch to from the primary tactic, when I need goals OR look to rotate players and use the likes of Lee Kang-in, Mendes, Vitinha et al. It’s probably is not a tactic I use too much at the start of the save, because I want to use it when Nuno Mendes is back.

 

3421 PSG

 

3421 in possession.

Attacks in: 235

Defends in: 5221 / 3421

Tactical Familiarity

Just a quick note to say that there is not a great deal of difference between the three tactics (more on this in a moment). Tactic 1 and 3 are identical in terms of instructions, with only the roles/starting positions themselves changing. Tactic 2, whilst different in areas, is not a drastic departure either from how I want PSG to go at teams and be positive. My advice would be to not have three tactics widely different from one another, as you may find players not adjusting when you’re switching systems about. This would adversely affect your overall cohesion, and you will likely see your players making lacklustre passes or not press as well collectively for example. We call this Tactical Familiarity in FM.

 

Tactical Familiarity in FM.

 

Tactical Styles

Do you use custom-made Tactical Styles? I am unsure if it’s a well used feature…but I find it rather handy when switching between tactics. Put simply, creating a custom style is like making your very own pre-set template; which you can load into any formation. For this save, I have two at PSG:

  1. ‘Style du PSG’ - the Mentality and Team Instructions that I see as our default signature style.

  2. ‘Plus contre-atttaque’ - Not too dissimilar (for reasons mentioned previously), but a dash more urgency in our build-up play.

There’s no limit to how many you can make, but just know that only one formation can have one tactical style at any one time. Have fun with it.

 

Custom styles in FM.

 

A common part of my SuperClub Diaries posts will be an update on the other eleven super clubs throughout Europe. I think this is a good way to stay on top of their state of affairs and could also provide context as to where I go next after PSG. The most important pre-season update from Paris however, is the €275m five-year extension to keep Kylian Mbappé in France. It’s crazy money, but it’s in keeping with the SuperClub Diaries save idea.

Elsewhere in SuperClub Diaries…

England

Chelsea’s £53 million signing, Christopher Nkunku, requires knee surgery and is out until at least December 2023. Liverpool finally refresh their midfielder with the signings of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai from Brighton and Leipzig respectively. Reigning English and Champions League winners Manchester City have had a relatively quiet transfer window with £100m being spent on Mateo Kovacic and Croatian defender Josko Gvardiol. A change in goalkeeping style is on the cards at Manchester United as they replace David De Gea with Champions League finalist Andre Onana.

Germany

Bayern Munich edge closer to completing a €100m deal to sign Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane. The England forward is expected to sign a four-year contract making him the most expensive signing in Bundesliga history.

Italy

AC Milan sell Sandro Tonali to Newcastle for €64m and immediately reinvest that money on three players: Christian Pulisic from Chelsea, Samuel Chukwueze from Villarreal and Tunus Musah from Valencia. Across the San Siro pitch, Inter Milan bring in Benjamin Pavard and Yann Sommer from Bayern Munich for just under €40m. Over in Turin, Leonardo Bonucci leaves Juventus stating “I have decided, after great suffering, to take the path of a lawsuit towards Juventus".

Spain

Whilst Diego Simeone looks to extend his 12 year stay in the Spanish Capital, Atlético Madrid also welcome back World Cup winner and former player Antoine Griezmann. João Cancelo continues to push for a move from Manchester City to Barcelona, whilst Ilkay Gündoğan has already made the switch on a Free Transfer. Real Madrid complete the marquee signing of Wonderkid Jude Bellingham for €103m.

I hope you have enjoyed this brief insight into how I am starting things tactically at PSG. I am unsure of the regularity of future diary posts…it will likely be whenever there is a sensible pause or moment in-game that merits a post.

Until then, thank you for reading/sharing and caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper

Football Manager Tactics: 3241 magic in Monterrey #FM24EarlyAccess

 
 

Hola a todos!

The #FM24EarlyAccess is here, and the excitement ahead of the full release is now at fever pitch. But before I go an embark on my SuperClub Diaries save, I thought I would try out some sweet tactical goodness in Mexico, with CF Monterrey. Firstly, why Mexico? Well, it’s a fairly short Opening/Closing league system with the addition of the newly re-formatted Leagues Cup containing Major League Soccer franchises. There are also no relegations + promotions right now, so it makes sense to manage in this nation for a relatively short period…rather than a long-term save. Secondly, why CF Monterrey?

Squad review

It has been a four-year spell without a trophy for CF Monterrey in real-life, yet there is potential to challenge for honours from the beginning of this save due to some great players being present in the Day 1 squad:

  1. Esteban Andrada - a former Miami Galáctico in an alternate FM Universe. Not sure why, but I love this Goalkeeper. Tall, dependable with old school ‘keeping attributes.

  2. Héctor Moreno - Mexico seems to generate many players with 100+ international caps. Moreno is 6th on the most capped list, with 132 appearances for El Tricolor…he is a classy left-footed Centre-Back who can bring the ball out of defence and pick a good pass.

  3. Sergio Canales, Jesús Corona (‘Tecatito’) and Maximiliano Meza - Three technically gifted players here to build around, all three need to be in the First XI. All three have a decent mix of Flair, Technique and Vision.

There are a number of other players I have grown to like during this short play-through, but the five mentioned above are what drew me towards Monterrey. Here they are in FM24, (please do not mock the lack of club logos/facepacks…I’ve made no efforts to download them so far):

Building the tactic

So, the ideas of fitting the previously mentioned five players all went onto my tactical whiteboard. Here is the first concept of a tactic I had in mind for CF Monterrey:

 

My whiteboard.

 

The arrows crudely drawn by oneself hint at the kind of movement I was looking for, so you can probably guess some of the roles I intend to use. Maybe have a go at guessing before you read on?

4141 to 3241, with Positional Play

Positional Play, in my view at least, is not a new concept. I grew up with people telling me to pass as triangles on the football pitch, overloading a certain part of the pitch when in possession of the ball. Whilst I appreciate Pep Guardiola gets the modern day plaudits for Positional Play, in a lot of ways…it was already in grassroots football years/decades ago OR maybe it has always been in football? In Football Manager 2024 we now see players have a greater awareness of one another, so for the early-access content I wanted to use a few roles that trigger these transitional movements. Based on the previous screenshot I decided to try the below roles:

  • Libero (Defend) - moving CB to DM

  • Inverted Full Back (Defend) - moving FB to CB

  • Mezzala (Attack) - moving CM to AM

You can see clearly how the first couple of transitions work, the Inverted Full Back will slot in to the space vacated by the Libero (who forms a double pivot with my Deep Lying Playmaker). The final transition of the left sided Mezzala movement is not a new one, however the way Football Manager sees the players around him react to that movement has been tweaked. So, that means any wide player stays that little bit wider (to allow the Mezzala full occupancy of the half-space) and the Attacking Midfielder moving to the right slightly. Remember: FM24’s Positional Play is as much about the shifting of a role (e.g. an Attacking Midfielder) around a transitional role (e.g. Mezzala), than it is of the latter moving into certain spaces. I think it is important to bold this particular point, because I have seen a bit of confusion around the content creator community thinking Positional Play is the movement of certain roles themselves, which have largely always been there (think: Deep Lying Forward and Central Midfielder on Attack for example), nor is it the Enganche moving out wide under all conditions for example, rather it is the Positional Play from other roles forcing it to happen as a rotation.

Because Football Manager 2024’s user interface does not show you a general in possession shape, I made one myself (see below). In the far left image I have a stripped back 2D Classic view of the pitch in the various zones, which FMers on the forums from yesteryear sometime like to call strata. The middle is out of possession, i.e. the tactic that you see on FM24 and the far right is the general spaces the roles like to move into. I appreciate I have not yet shown you the actual roles in their entirety, nor the Team Instructions…that comes next:

There is a part of me that doesn’t sit well with showing an ‘in possession’ graphic, as there are so many subtleties that dictate the precise location of a player on the pitch at any one time. But that’s their general locations from the general patterns of play I see from an Opening Stage play-through with CF Monterrey. Below is how the wider tactic looks in FM24. Note - I’m not usually one for asymmetrical tactics as I feel the AI doesn’t cope to well against them, but the DLP-S is there for the progressive balls to Winger but also a nice cross-field switch is on for the attacking Mezzala. Anyway, all tactics are asymmetrical once we’re in possession…so I’m cool with it. Here’s how we set up:

CF Monterrey tactic.

As always, I’ve evolved the tactic…accepting that I never get it exactly how I want it right from the start.

Mentality - I’ve either been on Balanced or Positive in this save. Balanced is when I want to show slightly less urgency, usually when in control of the game already.

In Possession - I’ve always made sure CF Monterrey have been a team that play out of the back. It suits the skillset of the Centre-Backs and Inverted Full-Backs that are also capable of playing centrally. There were times I changed our approach play though, removing Work Ball Into Box when switching Deep Lying Forward to Advanced Forward. During this switch, I would also usually remove the lower tempo…increasing the chance of the Advanced Forward getting a forward ball sooner. Low crosses is also something I added to the tactic too, and for obvious reasons: we’re not overly tall or physical upfront, but rather quick and nimble.

In Transition - I think I also kept these the same across all games. But I did ask the Goalkeeper to slow down distribution during some gut wrenching Opening Stage Finals (more on this later).

Out Of Possession - The only change here is when I noticed long kicks from opposition goalkeepers reaching my Centre-Backs and beyond. One goal is the line in the sand for me to switch and drop lines deeper towards my own goal.

Player Role changes - the eagle eyed readers may have noticed that Jesús Corona was very advanced in my tactical whiteboard drawing in the Attacking Midfielder zone. I moved him down to the Central Midfield zone part-way through the season and he was on the ball a lot more as a result, which is what you want for somebody with Dribbling 18, Flair 18, Technique 17 and Vision 16! The move was justified, as he has topped our Dribbles statistic with 5.33 per 90 over the course of this Opening Stage campaign.

Now I should probably show you some goal highlights, and to do that I will do it in Loom - a video capture software that also allows me to to talk to you…

 
 

As for other bits:

  • I used default set pieces, except tweaked Defensive corner routines to help with counters - whereby two players are left upfield to break forward if given the chance. Surprisingly, I was amazed my Assistant Manager routine had everybody back, which kind of invited the pressure!

  • No Opposition Instructions used. Not against them, I just feel I did not need to mico-manage this.

  • Only two Player Instructions used: Defensive Winger set to run wide with the ball (stretch the play) and attacking Winger told to cut inside with the ball (overload central areas).

Magic in Monterrey

If you got this far into the blog, I’m guessing you want to know how it all went in the Opening Stage with CF Monterrey? Today is your lucky day…

Leagues Cup

The revamped Leagues Cup now contains all clubs from MLS and Liga MX and it offers a unique experience in FM by seeing two leagues go up against one another - dare I say it’s relatively unknown to FMers right now? It starts with 15 groups of three clubs, before 1st and 2nd places are then placed into four regions (Central, East, South and West) where it becomes a knockout tournament with Quarter, Semi and Final games. The four winners of these regional finals then enter the ‘Semi Final play-offs’. Here’s how we did:

Stay in your lane MLS…

Seeing that the Board only ever wanted us to be competitive, we surpassed expectations by making it to the regional final…losing on penalties to Tigres at home. Pretty devastated with that, but the main focus was on the Opening Stage domestically…

Opening Stage

One thing I struggled to do in the early access save was manage the fitness of certain players as we played every 3 days with Leagues Cup overlapping into the Opening Stage. Simply put, I probably needed an extra player or two during this run but I turned off the opening Transfer Window (damn). Once we only had the Opening Stage to focus on, the run was strong: 12 games unbeaten to finish the season in 3rd.

You can see that some little tactical tweaks from concept to finished tactic worked with the unbeaten run.

Opening Stage Finals

The Opening Stage Finals were a good reminder of the ‘h’ in FM-exico to grant the higher seed passage in the event of a draw. We made good use of that as Santos Laguna gave us a really good two ties.

Massive.

Seeing as Pachuca were our first defeat of the save in the Liga MX tie, I was keen to dial in a bit more and make some pragmatic changes. I decide to use the Focus Play Towards The Left vs Pachuca, because I suspected that they would play with IWB and an advanced Winger at AMR (based from Scout Report). With Canales returning from injury, it could be a good area of the pitch for us to exploit. So it proved too, with a healthy 5-2 aggregate score to take us into the final.

So, the Opening Stage Final: 3rd meets 8th. It’s classic Latin American goodness that I have come to love, whereby the league finish is really just a footnote. Bring your A Game when it matters, and you will do well my son. This is what Monterrey, and much to my surprise, actually did. With a depleted and tired squad, we had to show our mettle against a difficult Atlas side who had hit form when it mattered. Despite having five Moneterrey players in the match day squad needing a rest for the 2nd leg, we went to Atlas and won 2-0 (after drawing our home leg 1-1). It is time to celebrate the first trophy of FM24…

WE DID IT™

Too boring/long/short; did not read? I used three tactical roles that trigger Positional Play rotations: Inverted Full Back, Libero and Mezzala. We transitioned from a lop-sided 4141 of sorts to a 3241 in possession. Whilst we did not win the Leagues Cup, we managed to finish 3rd in the Liga MX and won the thing outright by progressing to the Opening Stage Final: beating Atlas 3-1 on aggregate. Gracias por todo, CF Monterrey.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy the FM24 Early Access.

Tony / FM Grasshopper

SuperClub Diaries (Vol. 1) - Announcement #FM24

 
 

Super Clubs

Most journeyman saves, or saves in general, that I see documented on blogs or on YouTube tend to follow the pattern of starting from the bottom before working upwards to the top. My Ceuta save is a quintessential example of that. The elite clubs are instead often reserved for short stints during the beta period of the FM cycle. But for most of 2023, I’ve had super clubs on my mind.

I have taken special interest in the absurd events over at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Bayern Munich, where it would seem that a league title win is not enough to clear the air of contempt and fan frustration surrounding both clubs. Simply put, winning most games in a campaign does not necessarily mean a Head Coach meets the expected minimum level of performance…super clubs appear to demand two things: (1) winning in style and (2) the ultimate prize: the UEFA Champions League (UCL). Something both clubs failed to do, who duly made wholesale backroom staff changes in the Summer of 2023.

Speaking of the UCL, along with the super club mentality comes a feeling of superiority and that was best demonstrated with the 2021 European Super League. The aforementioned clubs of PSG and Bayern are not guilty of that, but eleven other heavyweights* decided that they would be better served in a breakaway European league, void of relegation and a guarantee of competition profits through a sizeable percentage of income each year.

You are right to think that all of this can be a turn off from wanting to manage a super club in FM, as they often act like spoiled brats. But maybe there is an FM save here by behaving like a super club? It’s something I never really do, usually players in my FM saves are carefully recruited with the aim to get as much out of the budget as possible. A super club would, and absolutely should, be in the moment of building an elite XI each year, with the aim to win it all. I think that’s where my save idea begins…

*and Tottenham.

The save premise

A journeyman at the upper echelons of European football with ten of the twelve founding members of the European Super League, with Bayern and PSG replacing North London (because it’s stupid to call Arsenal and Tottenham ‘super clubs’ when they have not won a league title for so long). Here is a map of the clubs I can manage:

 

The 12 clubs I can manage in SuperClub Diaries.

 

I am not going to be too strict on when I move on in the save, a lot of it is down to circumstance and chance, but I will begin my FM24 journey with Paris Saint Germain, and I will explain my reasoning shortly. But the overall aim is to win as many UCLs as possible, with more than just one club and certainly more than Carlo Ancelotti’s four winning manager medals.

Why Paris Saint-Germain in FM24?

Choosing Paris Saint-Germain may seem like no real challenge at all, but there is work to do ensuring their 2023 Summer rebuild integrates smoothly.  The Parisian club also have the added complication of Ligue Un dropping to 7th in the UEFA rankings and the threat of Saudi Arabian clubs now competing for the World’s best talents.  Paris needs to rediscover their attractiveness once again, and move away from the shitshow of the last 12 months where, despite winning a record breaking 11th Ligue Un title, many adverse things have happened:

So, within each super club during “SuperClub Diaries” I plan to have some club specific aims. For PSG I would continue the policy of signing the very best players, but alternatively they have been criticised for having let such good talent leave their academy. I therefore plan to bring some of the best ones back again to Paris. Here’s a fairly long list of the talent that has recently left the academy:

  1. Adrien Rabiot (Juventus)

  2. Alphonse Areola (West Ham)

  3. Arnaud Kalimuendo (Stade Rennais)

  4. Boubakary Soumare (Sevilla FC on loan from Leicester City)

  5. Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea)

  6. El Chadaille Bitshuiabu (RB Leipzig)

  7. Ferland Mendy (Real Madrid)

  8. Jonathan Ikone (Fiorentina)

  9. Junior Dina Ebimbe (Eintracht Frankfurt)

  10. Kingsley Coman (FC Bayern)

  11. Matteo Guendouzi (Lazio on loan from Olympique de Marseille)

  12. Mike Maignan (AC Milan)

  13. Mohamed-Ali Cho (Real Sociedad)

  14. Moussa Dembele (Al Ettifaq)

  15. Moussa Diaby (Aston Villa)

  16. Odsonne Edouard (Crystal Palace)

  17. Sekou Mara (Southampton)

  18. Tanguy Nianzou (Sevilla FC)

  19. Timothy Weah (Juventus)

  20. Xavi Simons (RBLeipzig on loan from PSG)

  21. Yacine Adli (AC Milan)

Can I tempt some of the better ones above and bring them home? Can I then form a predominantly homegrown UCL winning side, think Ajax 1995 but Parisian? After all, ici c’est Paris! If any of the above interests you, be sure to check back later in the year, where I’ll begin the save and subsequent diaries here on ☕️🏠 FM.

Thank you for reading/sharing and caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper

"10 years at Ceuta" - Plazas de Soberanía #FM23

 
 

Previously on Plazas de Soberanía, Ceuta tactically evolved.

Intro

Has this been my favourite blogged FM save? Probably not, but I am ok with that. I cannot always find the most epic save ever or have the greatest in-game moments. Alternatively, this has not been a bad save either. I set out to do a One Club Save back on FM23 release day, and here I am in September 2023 concluding things with excitement building for FM24…AD Ceuta FC have kept the Football Manager flame alight for 10 months of the year. 10 in-game seasons that have held my attention.

The save has largely gone the way I had hoped too: an upward journey from Primera Federación Grupo I to LaLiga. Whilst we did not gain successive promotions, challenge for LaLiga right away or sell a Mauritanian Newgen for €90m…I did the save my way. €3-4m transfer spends on players that suited lowly Ceuta, evolving tactically and constructing a 15,000-seater new stadium in the process. I started out as the 133rd most reputable club in Spain in 2022 and now I finish with Ceuta as the 19th most reputable club in Spain in 2032.

Today’s post recaps on the 10th and final season, whether I met the save’s aims, I share my favourite FM23 player and I then reveal how the save will keeping going without me. Does any of this entice you to read on further?

Oh, and as a reminder…this is our story so far:

  1. 2022/23 - Primera Federación Grupo I - 6th

  2. 2023/24 - Primera Federación Grupo I - 4th (promoted via Playoffs) 🚀

  3. 2024/25 - LaLiga SmartBank - 13th

  4. 2025/26 - LaLiga SmartBank - 13th

  5. 2026/27 - LaLiga SmartBank - 14th

  6. 2027/28 - LaLiga SmartBank - 7th

  7. 2028/29 - LaLiga SmartBank - 1st (promoted as champions) 🏆

  8. 2029/30 - LaLiga Santander - 15th

  9. 2030/31 - LaLiga Santander - 14th

  10. 2031/32 - LaLiga Santander - ?

And all the posts so far:

Season 2031/32

The 10th and final season with Ceuta, in my Plazas de Soberanía series has been a blast. I completed the season quicker than I thought I would, mainly because I could see some of the progress we were making and the good football we were playing. I did not sign too many players, but Adonay Marichal is the standout signing as I channelled my inner David Moyes and recruited from the division below. Adonay arrived for €3.5m for Las Palmas and played a mixture of Deep Lying Playmaker and Attacking Midfielder (interchanging with the 🐐, Txus Alba - more on him later).

 

Adonay Marichal.

 

There was a brief moment where European qualification was a possibility, and part of me believed I could do it. Alas, 15 points at the end of the season was the difference and the line in the sand marked out as the next ceiling for Ceuta to breakdown:

Final league table.

14 green dots!

My FM23 Aims - Revisited

The previous save aims are found here. My Ceuta side never once challenged for the LaLiga title, and I never got to hear the Champions League theme. However, I never once got sacked here at Ceuta…and we did move into the new 15,000 ‘Ceuta stadium’:

 
 

After signing 14 North Africans in this save, we finally saw one capped internationally for the first time whilst present at the club. I left it late, 2031 Summer signing Amine Mekouar (and the final North African arrival in this save) received a debut for Morocco against Rwanda in which he scored. Phew, achieving 3 out of my 5 aims isn’t bad 😎

My fav FM23 player is…

…Txus Alba. Were you expecting me to write somebody else? Sure, ‘Kevin’ was a monumental signing and I titled three posts around the Ceuta born Nigerian…but Txus Alba was iconic for me in FM23. Txus Alba joined in 2024/25 (my third season in FM), Ceuta’s debut season in LaLiga 2. He so nearly joined on loan a year before that but opted to join league rivals Linares on loan from Barcelona. When his contract was up at La Masia, I swooped in and made him my highest earner on €200k per annum.

Txus Alba, club ‘Icon’.

Sometimes in FM, you get that one player whose trajectory grows alongside the growth of the club. This is something I see when managing a One-Club save such as this, and something I have experienced with Txus in my side. He’s been almost ever-present in the seven years I have managed him…either as my Deep Lying Playmaker or as one of my Attacking Midfielders. Txus has been my most used player with 330 appearances, 106 appearances more than the 2nd most used player: Luca Zidane.

It’s probably fair to say that both him and Ceuta have hit a ceiling together in mid-table LaLiga. The next step is probably to phase him out of the side and part ways, and that’s another Manager’s immediate job (more on this later). But for now I want to look back at Txus’ service here:

330 Appearances, 38 Goals, 76 Assists, 7.02 Average Rating. Below is his last LaLiga assist (number 33 in Spain’s top league), and probably one of his best:

Txus Alba assist Vs Elche (Season 10)

Other special players in this save are the aforementioned Kevin Carlos (51 goals in a couple of seasons) & Luca Zidane (Club Captain for many years) and Rubén Acuña (my highest goal scorer of 72 goals over four seasons). Perhaps in the tier below is Iker Losada (191 appearances, 39 goals and 38 assists) and Lorenzo Gonzalez (whose 34 goals in a single season [2022/23] was never beaten). I salute these virtual players and I will often think about them.

No El Fin…Announcing Ceuta’s New Manager…

I find that the motivation to leave a legacy wanes a little bit in a One Club Save. It might just be me, but the last few transfer windows in these kind of saves often see me just going through the motions - there’s no real desire to find that next wonderkid or leave the squad looking in a top shape. However, that all changed when CoffeehouseFM’s next top Blogger, José (@YouthIntake), got in contact with me over the Summer, asking if he could continue my save after me by loading up the save file. I was genuinely happy to share, because from that moment I had a greater motivation to conclude things with Ceuta in the best possible way.

The other added benefit for me was being able to share my save file six in-game months in advance of ending with Ceuta, in order to identify targets with José and seeing whether I could add a couple of players. After all, how often do you see new Managers IRL come in and totally disregard players that the club has only just signed? I was determined not to have this with Ceuta. The benefit for José is that he’s privy to the decision making now, meaning it is two positions he won’t have to worry about on arrival and they’ll get 6 months of football before José can come in and use them.

So, José and I got to work and we identified the Full Back positions as a place to recruit towards in January 2032, due to the players being fairly old there. These are the two players we signed:

Alberto Vega

Romario Barta

In my current 4222, the left sided full back is the more attacking one. With Alberto Vega signing this can obviously continue. He has good physicals to get up and down the pitch, and a decent enough cross. He arrives in a cut-price deal (€115k) from Real Madrid due to his expiring contract. The next signing becomes the first non-Spanish or North African in the save so far, but he’s José’s 1st pick for RB…and I can see why. Romario Barta (signing from Cluj at €3.8m) is a solid full back, who will offer good security in the defence.

I am unsure if José will blog his journey with Ceuta (or update us someplace else), but I am happy to know the club is in safe virtual hands. His immediate focus will be to keep the team competitive with the lowest salary cap in the league (circa €29m p/a), and that should not be underestimated considering the club does not generate much in the way of match day revenue. Additionally, now that the club is established in LaLiga, developing youth is something I think José and Ceuta can push forward with too 🙂

AD Ceuta FC, good luck in the future.

Thank you for reading / sharing and caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper